Amid federal funding cuts and rising costs, Capital Region advocates warn of a growing gap between available food and those at risk of going hungry.
Officials at the 2026 State of Hunger summit held by Regional Food Bank in Troy had just one message: food insecurity, especially among children, is on the rise.
According to the organization’s data, food insecurity rates in the 23 counties of eastern New York that Regional Food Bank serves, more than 16% of children — roughly one in six — do not know where they’re going to get their next meal. The organization estimates that’s about 99,000 children.
The vast territory Regional Food Bank serves from Rockland County all the way up to the Canadian border is home to 2.9 million New Yorkers. The food bank estimates more than 350,000 people are food insecure within that area — a 23% increase from 2019.
At a time when wages are not growing to meet an increased cost of living, 38% of people in the Capital Region are experiencing food insecurity don’t qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Organizers said last year’s federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act doesn’t help the situation — by 2034, SNAP benefits could be reduced by $186 billion, resulting in an estimate 22 million families losing some or all of their benefits.
Shipments from The Emergency Federal Assistance Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, have already fallen by 40% over the past year and a half.
Taking a look at the Capital Region in particular, the meal gap, or the actual figure of missing meals, is up to 30.5 million annually.
Regional Food Bank CEO Tom Nardacci said it’s going to take more local-level coordination to get food to hungry New Yorkers.
“We work with 90 farms currently. We've worked with about 200 over through the years," Nardacci said. "There are 10,000 farms in our 23-county service area, and of those, there's probably 3,000 that could work with us in some capacity. So how do we get from 90 to you know 500 to 1,000 farms and get that produce?”
The meal gap is continuing to grow while Regional Food Bank and other organizations are investing in ways to get food to those in need.
Nardacci emphasized the importance of not only working with local farmers, but working more closely with county officials to facilitate efforts to shore up funding gaps that contribute to the growing number of missing meals; in the Capital Region that food budget shortfall has risen to $123 million.
Albany County Exectuvie Dan McCoy announced a $100,000 investment in local food pantries Thursday.
County Legislature Deputy Chair Wanda Willingham spoke on the importance of that investment.
“Healthy eating is simply not a choice for some underserved or marginal communities, and instead, is something that is relying upon several factors, including finances, how much money people are making, transportation availability, culture, time, and mental health,” she said.
